Victory For Anti-Incinerator Campaign in Notts

Pickles rejects Sherwood Forest incinerator

Following a public inquiry, the Secretary of State Eric Pickles has refused planning permission for Veolia’s proposed 180,000 tonne waste incinerator in Rainworth, Nottinghamshire. The public inquiry, which was presided over by Inspector Rupert Grantham, opened in October 2009 and was adjourned twice at the request of Veolia to allow them time to submit further evidence.

The greenfield site, owned by UK Coal and subject to a planning condition requiring restoration to heathland and woodland, is in the heart of Sherwood Forest, and is used by rare and protected bird species such as woodlark and nightjar.

Local campaign group People Against Incineration (PAIN) were joined by Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust and Newark & Sherwood District Council in opposing the application at the public inquiry. There was also a community evening where local residents voiced their opposition to the incinerator.

In the Planning Inspector’s view: “...Veolia have failed to show use of the Rufford facility would not prejudice further movement up the waste hierarchy...Recognition that the site is not previously developed land would have ruled it out at an early stage in the site selection process. I have also identified significant shortcomings in the subsequent assessment of this and other shortlisted sites. To my mind, the appraisal of alternative sites has not been robust”.

PAIN’s Chairman, Bernard Thompson, said: “This is a happy day for the people of Rainworth, and for all who care about Sherwood Forest. I would like to thank everyone involved. Local support remained solid over many years of campaigning. We have utmost respect for the Planning Inspector, Mr Rupert Grantham, who treated all parties fairly and arrived at the right conclusion.”

Shlomo Dowen, who gave evidence on behalf of PAIN at the inquiry, said: “It is unfortunate that Veolia and Nottinghamshire County Council have squandered so much time and public money on this misadventure. Now that this distraction is over PAIN looks forward to working with our County Council to ensure that Nottinghamshire’s ever-decreasing quantity of waste is managed sustainably.”

Newark & Sherwood District Councillor Linda Tift said: “I am overjoyed to hear that this beloved site will be protected from development. The site is clearly important to nature conservation and is surrounded by Sites of Special Scientific Interest. I hope that UK Coal will now honour their promise to return the site to heathland so that the community’s vision for the area to be restored and included in a Sherwood Forest Regional Park can be realised.”

Green Progress

A good Green showing in local elections across the country and excellent Green Party progress in Norwich and Brighton in the face of sustained attack from both Labour and Conservatives and feeble rearguard action from the tarnished Lib Dems:

Norwich results


Brighton Results

A shame about the AV referendum , but with FPTP voting for the foreseeable future the Greens, especially in England, now carry much hope and responsibility as the untarnished left-of-centre alternative in areas where the Lib Dems are crumbling and Labour are vulnerable or unable to make headway. Join us!

5th May - Say YES! (And Vote Green if you get the opportunity!)

On 5th May there is the opportunity to make a small change in the UK's voting system. However, if the vote is no this will be presented by the whole media and establishment as showing that there is no appetite for any change from First Past The Post in UK general elections and Proportional Representation will be off the agenda for possibly a political generation. Anyone who wants PR should vote YES to AV.

The Tories are changing the boundaries for elections so that they will get even more of an advantage under FPTP - Labour votes are concentrated in urban areas and the North - Tory voters are more spread out in rural and suburban zones and the South. The new boundaries will mean more seats fall to the Tories or become "Safe" Tory seats. AV would at least balance this change.

Some have been arguing that progressives and the left should vote No to "spite Clegg" in the hope this will cause the Lib Dems to leave the coalition or some such unlikely "Turkeys Voting for Christmas" scenario. Putting aside that voting YES is likely to "spite Cameron" and upset the Tories - (the Organ Grinders rather than the irritating monkeys!) - it seems to me that basing your vote on a change (that could lay the ground for further change, will be fairer and allow more of a clear picture of smaller party support) on personal animosity and short term vengeance seems to me politically immature to say the least.

So, Vote YES, and if you can - vote Green, and elect local councillors with principle who will not be mouthpieces for the Coalition vandals.

Next Up - May Day!

May Day events around the country should be well attended this year - after the 26th March a good opportunity to take protest and a show of unity into local communities.

Demonstrate On 26 March

Day by day the "Coalition" look less and less like a democratic elected government and more and more like a slow motion corporate coup.....

We need to stop them.

Hands off our public services.

Hands off our jobs.

Hands off our pensions.

26 March - For a united resistance!

The Reality of Coalition Neo-liberalism

I was up close and personal with the reality of the austerity coalition's policies this week as the redundancy axe began to fall in my workplace.
For those still deluded enough to think the coalition is just about "Deficit reduction" and getting rid of "unproductive workers" the coming few months is going to be instructive. A tsunami of job losses in local government is coming along with the proposed total transformation of the National Health Service and a slow but sure dismantling of locally democratic controlled education. The shared (Neoliberal) aim of the two coalition party leaders, Sauron and Saruman, is the final dismantling of the post war settlement in Britain. That is effectively the end of anything resembling a welfare state and the beginning of a new age of corporatism. At the same time they hope to finish off what remains of anything approaching effective trade unionism by decimating the public sector and shaving off services left right and centre to corporations, religious groups, charities, philanthropists and the like. Their ideological attack dogs in organisations like Policy Exchange are already slavering for even more restrictive anti-union legislation and attacks on freedom of speech and assembly. So much for the "libertarian" rhetoric of the Cameroons and Orange Bookers.

The reality of this at the grassroots is likely to be disruption in the short term and in the longer term the creation of a two (or more?) tier system of services with the encroachment of private insurance, religious charities and corporate asset strippers.

At my workplace I have sat amongst devastated people who are going to lose jobs or workmates. We have people being made redundant on the grounds of "sickness points" who have otherwise exemplary performance and disciplinary records. That means people who have been unfortunate enough to have cancer in their families, who have had swine flu and even work related injuries, who have been coping with immense stress due to personal and family problems - these people are to pay for their bad luck with their jobs if they and their unions cannot win their appeals. This is people who have worked in a public sector employer that has been ranked amongst the best of its' kind in the country and in one of the most successful workplaces of that employer. And the 70% or 80% who remain may only have a temporary reprieve before the axe swings again, and again and again. Looking for jobs in this socially deprived part of the country will not be easy - the jobs that there are will probably pay half or less than what those being made redundant were paid and may be temporary or otherwise insecure.

Fortunately I sense that even those who went along for a while with the Coalition's rhetoric are now seeing the reality of what they are about - an ideological project to cement the power of certain sections of society even more firmly. They see the Bankers' bonuses, the sucking up to Murdoch and the political two-facedness and turn away in disgust. A mood of resistance is developing that goes far beyond the students that were the first to take the field. What is more, there is an awareness that alone in our workplaces and communities we are unlikely to be able to mount anything more than fragmentary resistance. What is needed is a movement across industries and society, across barriers of age and culture that takes inspiration from those resisting at the knife edge of the neo-liberal totalitarian project.

We need to work towards such a movement and as we do, the dream of ages past - the social general strike, the general expropriation of the expropriators becomes less of a dream and more of a possibility on the way to concrete necessity.

Peter Allen Presents The Green Challenge In Oldham East And Saddleworth

Peter Allen is the Green candidate in Oldham East and Saddleworth by-election on 13th January and is standing on a radical Green platform opposing cuts and redundancies and for left of centre unity. Peter is gaining support from many traditional Labour and Lib Dem supporters in the face of the scandal which led to the by-election and the craven surrender to Toryism of the Orange Bookers in the "Coalition". In addition, various campaigns and parties of the left who are not standing in the by-election are giving their support to Peter.
This is all very welcome, and Greenman sends his best wishes and support to Peter's campaign.
More from the local Party website for Oldham Green Party here:
http://www.oldhamgreens.org.uk/#/about-peter-allen/4546565953
Vote Green - The real alternative!